The many reasons Trump’s $91.6 million bond should vex voters March 12, 2024, 5:36 PM EDT By David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter The $91.6 million bond that Donald Trump posted in federal court Monday raises troubling new questions about the presumptive Republican nominee’s fitness to serve again as president. Among them: How might Trump’s debts influence his actions as president? Who might exert leverage over him? Would he look the other way at wrongful acts by his creditors? How could national security decisions be influenced by his being deeply in debt to a foreign company? Those concerns will only be magnified if, as expected, Trump posts a much larger bond while he appeals the $454 million judgment that New York State obtained after proving during a seven-week trial that Trump engaged in persistent financial fraud. Interest alone will cost Trump millions more if his appeal lasts more than a month or so. Andrew Weismann, the former FBI general counsel (who is also an MSNBC legal analyst) neatly summarized the problem on X: “The public has no idea who may have actually put up the money or provided a guaranty to support the bond. But one thing’s sure: Trump is beholden to someone for a lot of money.” I call owing a fortune to anyone, but especially foreign interests that do business in Russia, a national security nightmare. In this regard, what should concern us all are Trump’s many — and false — declarations that our Constitution gives each president unlimited powers, including the power to murder and commit other crimes with impunity. And there’s his admiration for dictators, which he has said he will become, but only for his first day in office. The someone Trump owes for the $91.6 million bond in the second defamation case won by advice columnist E. Jean Carroll is Chubb, a giant Swiss insurance company that operates in 54 countries. Chubb owns three insurance companies in Russia. Chubb may well become the source of the much larger bond Trump needs in the New York state fraud case, since using the same insurer would make negotiations and dealing with existing obligations much simpler. Chubb, like all other foreign-owned businesses in Russia, operates with the implicit consent of President Vladimir Putin, the modern tsar who has become fabulously wealthy despite earning a modest salary, jailed dozens of journalists, made questioning his regime a crime, and is widely blamed for the suspicious death of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny (among others). American firms that do business in Russia are also governed by Biden administration sanctions intended to punish Putin’s regime for invading Ukraine two years ago. Trump has repeatedly signaled that he would like Ukraine to be conquered by Putin. Having a president deeply in debt to a firm with business interests in Russia could, in myriad ways, compromise American diplomatic, military and national security actions concerning Russia and the countries Putin has said he wants to bring back under the Kremlin’s boot. To avoid seizure of his cash and other assets in the persistent fraud case, Trump has less than two weeks to pay the Empire State the full damages plus interest in cash or post a bond for the full amount plus some additional money to cover future interest, which accrues daily. March 25 is the deadline. On March 5, Trump boasted that he could easily produce the money in the New York state fraud case, which he calls baseless. This came after his lawyers said raising that much cash, more than $530 million in the two cases, would be impossible unless Trump could borrow against his assets. The terms on which Trump arranged the bond, which is a form of a loan, from Federal Insurance Company, an arm of Chubb, are a mystery. For example, what property did Trump pledge as security? What concessions, if any, did Trump obtain from existing lenders, some of whom require Trump to maintain certain levels of cash and to be current on all obligations? What rights does Chubb have to enforce payment from Trump? What happens if Trump becomes president again and refuses to pay, especially if he assumes his promised dictatorial powers? Why would Chubb make a large and risky loan to a man indicted on 91 felony counts in four cases and who is being sued by many others, including U.S. Capitol police officers injured when Trump tried to overthrow our government three years ago? The framers of our Constitution took care to ensure that presidents would be independent of outside influence, foreign and domestic, through the emoluments clauses, which I teach my students at Syracuse University College of Law. But the Founding Fathers’ concern was with income, not debts, leaving a loophole that if Trump regains office would almost certainly become a national security nightmare. No one in 1787 imagined that an American president would owe more than a half-billion dollars in damage awards, with more cases pending, to a company with global business interests that in part depend on remaining in the good graces of a dictator like Putin. Even if measured in 1787 currency, this prospect surely would have caused James Madison and the other architects of our Constitution to endure many sleepless nights. It should vex you, too.
Weasely excuse-making for insuring the trump Carroll bond. Wonder how many criminals the chubb company does this for. Especially those that were for "reprehensible" behavior. I nice way of saying rape. And the chubb folks are painting over the fact that it is no longer considered "alleged" reprehensible behavior (rape), but the reprehensible behavior (aka rape) has been adjudicated.
While waiting on one hush money trial it appears there are now new hush money charges... and trump show attorney habbas might also be exposed...
Trump's in begging mode for supporters to fund his bail. What a pathetic man. Former President Donald J. Trump, with a deadline fast approaching to secure a roughly half-billion-dollar bond in his civil fraud case in New York or risk seizure of his assets and flagship properties, sent an email on Saturday morning to his campaign’s supporters. The subject line — “Keep your filthy hands off Trump Tower” — was repeated at the start of the email in bold, italics and all caps, even as the message was clearly intended not for his backers but for New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, who brought the case. Mr. Trump told his supporters that Ms. James “wants to SEIZE my properties in New York,” adding, “THIS INCLUDES THE ICONIC TRUMP TOWER!” He then exhorted them to donate money to his presidential campaign as a show of strength against the web of legal troubles he faces, which he has broadly cast as a political witch hunt. With the deadline for Mr. Trump to post an appeals bond on Monday, the Trump campaign has sent at least 10 similar fund-raising solicitations since Wednesday accusing Ms. James and Democrats of trying to seize Mr. Trump’s marquee property, Trump Tower. I wonder if bigtexx and Commodore and Salvy sent their donations to the grifting con. https://nypost.com/2024/03/21/us-ne...a-supporters-to-help-him-pay-464m-fraud-bond/
I don't doubt this is true, but I think you forgot a link to a source. I know we talk about the cult like qualities of his following, but how many times can one American ask another American for money until some neurons start firing? We will see.
Hey he is the one who testified in a deposition for the case he has WAY over 400 million cash. Was he lying again?
The reason it is a guessing game is because he is heavily leveraged and no one knows what he owes on the properties. The selling value is known. The profit the government would receive is not. Those are two separate things. I am not going to take your house when you have a 2nd mortgage and you owe more than it is worth. Pretty simple concept.
He's always been a blowhard. His grift off the government ended when he was voted out, and his lies about his wealth are showing. Watch a mysterious payment of cash land in one of his hundreds of LLCs or foreign bank accounts from somewhere abroad.
He is waiting to see how much the suckers give him before he determines how much cash he has to come up with.
AG James can go after his bank accounts, his jewelries, his plane, etc. also, the IRS and NY tax authorities can go after his legal fees (paid for by the RNC) relating the stormy daniel case. to the extent that these legal fees are personal expense, not tax deductible, they are subject to taxation by NY tax authorities and the IRS
James could also do a monthly sweep of his bank accounts, collecting the rent that the properties generate. This would be a death by a million cuts.
